2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix Highlights

Carlos Sainz has sealed an assured victory in the 2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver bouncing back after initially losing the lead to Max Verstappen to score a stunning fourth win in Formula 1.

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It was a race that provided plenty of excitement right from the start before gradually settling down, at least as far as the leaders were concerned, before livening up again towards the finish with duels between Leclerc and Norris and an even longer one between Hamilton and Russell. There was plenty of action behind the top five, and at the very end, several drivers pitted for fresh tyres to go for the fastest race lap.

Regarding strategy, the predictions going into the event were confirmed, with the one-stop being the outright favourite and starting on the Medium before switching to the Hard, proving to be the quickest of all the various combinations. Piastri was an excellent example of this because even starting from a long way back on the grid, he adopted the same strategy as those at the front and could finish in the points.

Usually, one-stop races require careful tyre management, but today, we saw that the drivers could push without worrying too much about degradation, which was very limited on both compounds. The Medium showed a few signs of graining, but that did not affect performance excessively, while the Hard always performed well, even for those running the most extended stints, which came close to the 50-lap mark.

The day on the track:

14 drivers opted to start on the Medium, while six (Perez, Ocon, Colapinto, Lawson, Bottas and Zhou) went with the Hard. The Safety Car was required right from the opening lap following the collision between Tsunoda and Albon, leading to both retiring. In the first few laps after the restart, the race was action-packed, with drivers passing and repassing, giving the Stewards plenty of work to do… Then the race settled down, especially the leading positions, before springing back to life in the closing stages with duels between Leclerc and Norris and the Mercedes pair. The only unusual aspect was Verstappen’s climb through the field, dropping down the order with a double penalty totalling 20 seconds before he eventually made it up to sixth place. There was also a long-distance chess game as some drivers tried to gain, or stop others from gaining, the extra point for the race’s fastest lap.

Piastri drove the longest stint on the Medium, doing the opening 39 laps on a set of the C4. The longest stint on one set of tyres came from one of the specialists in this discipline, Bottas, who ran 49 laps on the Hard.

Aside from the final pit stops at the very end of the chase for the fastest lap time, all the drivers ran a one-stop race except for Perez, who, starting down the back, tried something different.

2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix Race Results

2024 Constructor Standings

Here are the team-by-team highlights:

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella after the 2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.

The Safety Car is deployed following a collision on Lap 1. Lando holds P3, while Oscar remains in P17. Lando, battling with Verstappen, is forced off the track, and Leclerc overtakes both drivers. Oscar passes Zhou and Bottas in quick succession for P15. Oscar gets ahead of Colapinto and moves up to P12, with Perez pitting ahead. Continuing his forward progress, Oscar passes Stroll for P11. With other drivers making stops, Oscar moves into the points positions. Lando boxes and swaps to a set of Hards. He re-enters the race in P4. Oscar boxes for Hard tyres and emerges in P13 behind Ocon but quickly overtakes the Alpine driver. Another overtake for Oscar, this time Gasly, which sees him back in the points. Colapinto pits and Oscar gets ahead of Hulkenberg at T1 for P8. Closing the gap to Leclerc in P2, Lando gets the move done as Leclerc goes wide at the last corner. Lando comes home in second place, while Oscar finishes in P8.

Lando Norris

It was a good race but a very tough race. Over the first few laps, much of it was just trying to stay in the race and avoid any crashes. I knew what to expect with Max Verstappen, and I just tried to avoid it. I think in the end, we were probably the quickest car today. We’re doing a very good job as a team, so we’ll keep our heads down, focused, and pushing. A big thanks to all the team, and then the fans today, they make this race very enjoyable.

Oscar Piastri

It was a difficult afternoon, but I think it was all we could have done. We made up a good chunk of places and the car was in a good spot, I just struggled through the traffic. It was a shame not to get Kevin Magnussen at the end, but we got ourselves back in the points, and that’s the main thing.

Andrea Stella

The mission for today at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez was, with both cars, to finish ahead of where we qualified. The pace was very good. We beat one of the Ferraris, and, realistically, looking at the data, Lando would have had a shot at victory without the time lost at the beginning behind Max Verstappen. This is very encouraging for future races.

Lando raced our upgraded car this weekend, and once again, I’d like to thank the Technical Department for preparing this car and the entire team for getting it to the track.

Oscar will also have the upgrade in Brazil. He drove a beautiful race today. It wasn’t easy to get through the field, but he was patient when he needed to be and brought home some valuable points. Those could be critical at the end of the season because this championship is going to the wire.

Now, we focus on São Paulo. We’re looking forward to another entertaining race with Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes. This is good for Formula One – and we’re having fun!

Max Verstappen picked up eight crucial points around the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit on Sunday to keep a healthy FIA Formula One World Championship lead heading into the last four 2024 races.

The Dutchman had a mixed race but dug into bank sixth place to hold a 47-point lead over McLaren title rival Lando Norris, while Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Pérez finished back in 17th place.

Max Verstappen, Driver, Red Bull Racing

It was a tough weekend. The start was good, but after that we had no pace, we struggled on both compounds for the rest of the race. Because of the penalties, we had a long pitstop, and it was a recovery drive to score as many points as possible after that. It is what it is. We need to understand what went wrong this weekend, but there was not much else we could have done today. We want to do many things better, and we will need to work hard to come back stronger in Brazil.

Sergio Pérez, Driver, Red Bull Racing:

It was a very difficult one today, we were recovering well in the race, we had a really good start and although we unfortunately got the time penalty, I think we were making progress and were going to score good points. Then, I had the incident with Liam. He was the first hard tyre, and we were a lot faster. We targeted the inside, we had the corner, and I wasn’t expecting him to be there; I had the position going into turn five, he was off the track, came back on, and I wasn’t expecting him to carry on straight. He took the whole side of the car off, and he damaged my whole sidepod and my floor. I don’t get it; it was avoidable; he just went for the incident, which ruined both races. I am very frustrated at how this weekend went and am very sorry for my team and people. It was simply the worst GP I have had at home.

CHRISTIAN HORNER, CEO and Team Principal

Not the race we had hoped for. Penalties and damage impacted our race. Pace was an issue for us today, which we will need to look at to understand where we lost out in the race. We had a good pace yesterday but were lacking today, so there will need to be a lot of hard work between now and Brazil. Checo’s race suffered, which was a massive shame for his home race. He picked up some significant damage early on, and that, coupled with the penalty, meant his race was shot.

Seven days after victory in Austin, Scuderia Ferrari HP again stood on the top step of the podium with another dominant performance, thanks to brilliant teamwork, perfectly completed and on track by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. The Spaniard was the dominant force this weekend and followed up yesterday’s pole with the win that owed much to a brilliant passing move on Max Verstappen before he flew off and took an unchallenged victory.

Charles made the most of the fight between Verstappen and Lando Norris to move up to second, but towards the end, had to concede second place to the Englishman. However, he then kept a clear head and deprived the McLaren driver of the additional point for the fastest race lap, so the team left Mexico with a further 41 points. This was Ferrari’s 248th win, its 825th podium finish and with four rounds remaining, it is now second in the Constructors’ standings, 29 points behind McLaren, having overtaken Red Bull. This was his fourth Formula 1 win for Carlos with Ferrari and his second this season, following on from victory in Australia. He now joins the likes of Eddie Irvine, Clay Regazzoni and John Surtees on the Ferrari all-time list.

Carlos Sainz #55

I’m incredibly happy! I’ve been chasing another win since Australia, and getting it here in Mexico makes it even more special. It almost feels like a second home to me, and I have the incredible support of Mexican fans! My family is also here this weekend, so I can’t ask for anything more. We knew losing a position at the start could happen, but the key to the race was quickly regaining it by diving down the inside into turn 1. From there, it was all about managing tyres and pace, a smooth operation until the chequered flag! This second win in a row is a further testament to the team’s work in recent months. We are getting closer to the Constructors’ Championship, and we’ll fight until the end as a team. Congrats to everyone! On to Brazil!

Charles Leclerc #16

It was a difficult race, and I think P3 was the best we could do, having spent the weekend a bit on the back foot. The first stint was about managing the tyre temperatures, which was difficult. After that, I just had to bring it home and maximise the points we scored as a team. It was a good race for Carlos and an excellent points haul for the team, which has been working well, coming back to the level we want to be at, which is fantastic to see. Our target is still to fight for the Constructors’ title, and we are getting closer thanks to weekends like the last two; now, on to the final race of this triple header, where we will push to keep up this momentum.

Frédéric Vasseur – Team Principal

We are delighted with this second win in a row. Carlos had a perfect weekend; he was on the pace from the first lap in FP1 and drove a very clever race, losing the lead on the opening lap before overtaking Max with a great move, after which he raced with control. Charles also had a good pace but lost some time with backmarkers, which cost us P2. But, honestly, it was a good weekend for him, too, even if he was not happy with the final result, which I understand completely. The car is not designed for Mexico, which is too much of a one-off track, and that means we didn’t have any particular advantage and had to do a lot of management because of the altitude, constantly monitoring the temperature of the engine and the brakes to keep them at the limit, so today we can say the team did an excellent job. Since Monza, our car has worked well at very different track types, so we can also be competitive at the remaining races. We must continue working like this because it’s not just down to the car’s potential but also how the team executes the race. Now, we will start from scratch in Sao Paulo next week. We have won two races in a row and done an excellent job, so we must continue to push. As for the championship, we are continuing to take it one race at a time. It’s not a given that we will be in front of Sao Paulo; what is a given is that we will tackle it with the same approach.

George Russell finished sixth, whilst Lewis Hamilton retired from the 2024 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. Lewis lined up P17 on the grid with George starting from the pit lane after the team had to work through the night to repair his car following Saturday’s Qualifying crash. Lewis made a strong start and gained five positions into turn one. Unfortunately, his race ended early as a gust of wind at turn 19 caught him out and left him beached in the gravel.

Lewis Hamilton finished P4 with George Russell P5 in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix. George lined up P5 with Lewis P6, both on the Medium tyre and through the opening corners, Lewis managed to get ahead of his team-mate.

Later in that first stint, George used DRS to regain the position before both cars boxed and cycled ahead of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who served a 20-second penalty for forcing the McLaren of Lando Norris off track in multiple incidents. Early in his second stint, it became clear that George’s front wing’s top element had suffered damage. Despite that issue, his pace was still strong, and both cars began to edge away from Verstappen behind. In the closing stages, Lewis passed George for P4 into turn one with his team-mate, therefore following him home across the line in P5. The team heads to Brazil for the São Paulo Grand Prix, the third race of this Americas triple-header.

George Russell

I had a solid first stint but hit a bump as I overtook the McLaren of Oscar Piastri at the start of my second stint and picked up some front-wing damage. It definitely cost me a couple of tenths a lap in terms of performance, which was a bit of a shame. We had to do over 30 laps carrying that, but even without it, we wouldn’t have had the speed to challenge for the podium. Overall, P4 and P5 are likely where we deserved to be today as a team and perhaps a little bit better than we thought going into the race.

We will keep working hard to improve as we want to battle right at the front. As you can see, we continue to progress with the car, with the gap increasing between the teams behind us in the championship. We’ve also closed the gap on Red Bull since the start of the season, but it’s clear that Ferrari and McLaren have made even more progress. We will use these final four races of the season to continue building our learning, test different things out, and set ourselves up nicely for next year.

Lewis Hamilton

We ultimately moved forward and brought home good points today for the team. We weren’t looking so racy in the first stint; I didn’t have enough front wing in the car and suffered from understeer. We were able to improve the balance at our second stop, and our pace got better. Even if we had enjoyed that speed in the first stint, we still wouldn’t have had the pace to challenge those ahead for the podium. P4 and P5 are still slightly better than we predicted today so that we can be pleased with our afternoon.

This hasn’t been the smoothest weekend for the team, but we’ve gathered much information about both specifications. We can now analyse that data and evaluate the best way forward for next weekend in Brazil and the rest of the season. Hopefully, we can get the car in a slightly better spot for Interlagos and take the fight to the Ferraris and McLarens.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

Overall, P4 and P5 are likely where we are pace-wise with our car at the moment. We cannot compete with those right at the very front on circuits that demand good traction. That is frustrating, but we are working hard to increase performance and build momentum for 2025. These final few races are a good opportunity for us to test different things and put ourselves in as strong a position as possible for next year.

In today’s race, George was hindered by front-wing damage, which cost him a good chunk of his performance. He still drove strongly, and his pace was decent compared to Verstappen behind. The Red Bull never threatened our race after the first pit stop. We also saw that Lewis’s speed was good on the hard compound compared to those at the front once he was in free air. We now head to Brazil and want to end the triple-header as strongly as possible.

It was a day of mixed fortunes for the team at the 2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix, as Lance Stroll finished just outside of the points in P11, whilst Fernando Alonso, unfortunately, had to retire early into his milestone race.

Fernando started the race in P13, with Lance in P14. Both had a good start and made up places in the opening lap. Lance moved into P11 and Fernando P12 before a safety car was called at the end of the first lap.

On Lap 15, Fernando pulled into the pits from P13 and had to retire the car due to a suspected brake cooling issue.

After dropping to P12, Lance went head-to-head with Sergio Perez on Lap 19 for P11, and after going off the track, he had to rejoin behind the Red Bull.

Lance pitted on Lap 27 and swapped to the Hard compound tyre. After rejoining in P16, he continued to make good progress throughout the remaining laps and finished the race in P11, just missing out on the points positions.

Fernando Alonso

We took advantage of a chaotic start, and everything was under control from our side as we battled just outside the top ten. However, by lap 13, the brake temperatures were a little high, and unfortunately, we had to retire the car a few laps later. I felt a lot of love this weekend and got lots of lovely messages and respect from people. Despite the result, I have a positive feeling from the weekend, and I’m confident we can perform better in Brazil.

Lance Stroll

It was a hard-fought race today. We did everything possible while managing some cooling issues but still lacked the pace to fight for points. It’s been a tough couple of weeks, but hopefully, we can be a little more competitive in Brazil.

Mike Krack, Team Principal:

Today, Lance drove a very strong race, but points were just out of reach. We did not have great pace all weekend, but Lance managed the race well, looked after the tyres, and enjoyed some fun battles on the track. It was a shame Fernando’s 400th Grand Prix weekend ended early with a front brake issue. The temperatures were getting too high, so we had to retire the car. Even though we just missed out on points today, we take the learnings and the positives into Brazil next week. Full credit to the trackside team for their continued hard work across this triple-header.

Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson ended the day in 16th spot, one ahead of the Mexican, while Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda did not finish at the 2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.

Liam Lawson

It was a frustrating race, not the result we wanted. With the speed we had this weekend, we could have scored points. It’s very disappointing to come away with nothing this weekend, especially when we had a package that was strong. We needed that clean air and, unfortunately, spent the whole race behind the gearbox of another car. We had incidents throughout and tried the strategy that worked last week, but it didn’t work today. We’ll learn from that and try to do a better job next week.

Yuki Tsunoda

There just wasn’t enough space. It was a racing incident. It was very tricky. We wouldn’t have been in that position if I had qualified where our actual pace was. I’m very sorry to the team. They did a fantastic job preparing everything from yesterday. I want to make it up to them in Brazil.

Laurent Mekies – Team Principal

It’s very frustrating to leave Mexico with no points. We feel the car has improved in the last two races with the updates we introduced in Austin. We had a further update this weekend on Yuki’s car only, but both drivers should have it next week in Brazil. It’s been one of our most competitive weekends in quite a while. In terms of pure pace, it’s clear that in all three free practice sessions, both cars are running in the top 10 nearly the whole time. Yesterday, Yuki’s crash was costly as the domino effect also prevented Liam from getting to Q3, but that’s motor racing. The weekend was derailed from that point onwards, and on the opening lap of the race, Yuki was the unfortunate victim of some squeezing, which is the sort of incident that can happen in the midfield. Liam used an inverted strategy to jump some of the cars ahead. He had a solid first stint and some good fights throughout the race, but it didn’t work for him, as he found a lot of traffic in the second part of the race. The contact with Colapinto pretty much ended any slight chance of fighting for points. We will focus on having a smoother weekend in São Paulo in a few days’ time and push very hard to see where the car’s recent upturn in pace can take us.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finished with Kevin Magnussen seventh and Nico Hulkenberg ninth at the 2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix, Round 20 of the 2024 FIA World Championship, held Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Kevin Magnussen

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

Williams Racing ended the 2024 Mexico City GP with Franco Colapinto crossing the line in P12, while Alex Albon’s race was over on the first lap.
The stewards hit Franco with a post-race 10-second penalty, but his advantage over Estaban Ocon behind meant no change to his classification.

Alex Albon

Franco Colapinto

Esteban started from Pit Lane on New Hards and finished P13: Pit Stop on Lap 48 for New Mediums. Fastest Lap: 1min 20.659secs. Pierre started from P8 on New Mediums, finished P10: Pit Stop on Lap 28 for New Hards. Fastest Lap: 1min 21.274secs.

Esteban Ocon

It was a difficult and long race for us today. It is not easy to start from the very back, and although we had a few fights to move up to thirteenth place, the pace was not enough for us to reach the points. We have some work to do before next weekend to understand where we can improve. There are a few days for us to work together for a better result in Brazil, and we will aim to maximise everything we can do there on another Sprint weekend, during which there are two opportunities to score points.

Pierre Gasly

I’m delighted with the point today. It’s only one point – probably the best we could achieve – but it’s satisfying as it’s been a few races since we last scored, and it shows that we continue improving. After a strong qualifying yesterday, we must confirm that with a reward, so I’m happy that we got tenth place today for the team. It was a close call at Turn 1. I felt some contact and saw Yuki [Tsunoda] go off, so I was undoubtedly quite fortunate to escape from that. From there, we drove our race and focused on managing everything as best as possible. Next week, we go to São Paulo for another Sprint event. We have some work to do, especially our race pace, but I’m optimistic for another positive weekend.

Oliver Oakes – Team Principal

It’s nice to come away from Mexico City with a point and return to the top ten. Pierre drove a good race; we did not have the pace to challenge the Haas cars today. We took the opportunity to change components on Esteban’s car, which meant he started from the pit lane, running him long in the first stint, and he did well in recovering some places throughout the race. We were not as competitive in race trim as in Qualifying, so we have some work to do in the coming races.

Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber had a busy afternoon fighting within the midfield pack, with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu displaying an improved pace on their way to eventually finishing 14th and 15th, respectively, at the 2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.

It was a step forward compared to recent rounds, as already seen yesterday, when Valtteri claimed a spot in Q2, and it shows the team is working hard to move in the right direction. With more upgrades coming before the end of the season, the Hinwil team will aim to move even closer to the front of the midfield.

Valtteri Bottas

I believe we maximised our performance today, even though the result was not as strong as I had hoped. Still, we improved, and that’s what we must take to the next race. I got a bit boxed in at the start, limiting my ability to make up positions. After that, the race was relatively straightforward, as we followed our planned strategy and even extended the first stint by a handful of laps. While it may not have been the best possible outcome in terms of end position, the positive is that we were able to fight more effectively than we have been able to recently. Our pace aligned with some of our closest competitors, which gives us confidence for the next rounds. We must focus on the next upgrade to be as effective as the latest, as we hope it will arrive soon. This will hopefully make us take another step in this direction.

Zhou Guanyu

Our race today was quite challenging, with brake overheating early on that forced us to lift off regularly and throughout the race, compromising our pace each lap. It’s definitely something we have to look into to understand the root cause of the issue. It felt like we had more to give, but we still managed to hold our own and stay competitive with the cars around us. It’s a step forward, something we couldn’t do just a few races ago, so it’s encouraging progress. The team will keep working hard, and with São Paulo coming up, we’ll give it our all to be even closer in the mix.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative

We made a slight improvement in terms of pace, and we looked better out there today, even though the race had a similar outcome to the previous ones, looking purely at positions. We saw this step forward on track, as we were on a much closer pace to our competitors; however, the lack of pace in the second part of the stint continues to hinder our ability to fight with our direct competitors truly. Valtteri’s one-stop strategy on hard-medium tyres was just enough to defend P14 due to higher degradation, which left him exposed to Ocon in the later stages. Zhou’s race was compromised as he struggled with balance and brake cooling, finishing in P15. Besides the improvement in pace, we were also satisfied with the pit stops, as both were good. We need the next upgrades the team is relentlessly producing back in Hinwil to find the extra pace required to make another step forward towards the front of the midfield, which is closer than before this season.